"Do Christians in fact eagerly long for Christ's return? The more Christians are caught up in enjoying the good things of this life, and the more they neglect genuine Christian fellowship and their personal relationship with Christ, the less they will long for his return."
- Wayne Grudem
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
In this audio segment, John Piper decries a "pea shooter Sunday school knowledge of God" as an effective tool for fighting porn temptation. His solution? Read Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology, cover to cover.
If you don't own a copy of Grudem's book, go get one. In my mind it's the most accessible, readable, and practical systematic theology on the market. In just a few short years it's become a classic evangelical work on the totality of biblical doctrine.
For what it's worth, I love Piper's advice. To know more and greater truth about God is to know His glory. To know His glory is to know Him. To know Him is to know satisfaction. And satisfied people don't bother with "mud pies in a slum."
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Comments on "Grudem As Weapon":
2. Shrode
- 03/07/2013 12:28 am CST
I'm quite sure that either are much better for you than porn. :-)
Grudem's certainly isn't the only good Systematic theology out there. But I'm with Bird. It's really good.
(Other good ones include but are not limited to: Thielicke, Reymond, Gordon Lewis & Bruce Demarest, Stanley Grenz, and Millard Erickson.)
3. Karl
- 03/07/2013 8:24 pm CST
Hmmm - Piper's comment reminds me of an all-time classic post on Jon Acuff's early blog:
"My all time favorite example of this phenomenon came in the form of a book I once read. OK, it was a book I once skimmed. The book was about purity and lust and being faithful with your heart and your eyes. The minister that wrote it had clearly never severely struggled with any of those topics but that didn’t stop him from writing and publishing a book. How do I know? Here was one of his suggestions for why shouldn’t look at porn:
“The porn industry supports organized crime.”
There is not a man on the planet, that in the throes of lust, facing an endless supply of internet filth, in the midst of being intoxicated by dopamine and emotions, pauses and thinks to himself, “I can’t look at porn. I hate the mafia. I should just stop right now because I certainly don’t want to support any form of organized crime. No thank you.”
Piper's statement is different but strikes me as being equally unlikely and out of touch. I mean, what is the percentage of actual porn addicted men on the planet who would be less likely to be addicted to porn a year from now if they read Grudem's book? I think it's low.
I agree 100% with the last two sentences of the post, by the way. I just don't think reading systematic theology is or ever has been the primary way to get there for the vast majority of folks.
Leave a Comment:
How about challenging yourself and picking up Michael Horton's "Pilgrim Theology" instead of Grudem's?